General Info – summary.

This impressive monoecious Tree may reach 21m high.  Short spines may persist.  The large oval, obovate to elliptic Leaves are simple, alternate and may be deciduous.  Visible Side veins form a distinctive herringbone pattern.  Small, monoecious, unisexual, 5-merous Flowers are in compact cymes with smaller petals than sepals.  Fruit – a small, edible, ellipsoid, fleshy 1 seeded berry.  Calyx remains are visible

Description.

Bridelia micrantha.

Previous Names: Bridelia stenocarpa, Candelabria micrantha.

SA Tree No. 324.

Common names: (Afr) Bruinstinkhout, Bruin-stinkhout, Mitzeerie, Mitseriehulu, Mzerriehout.  (Eng) Coastal Goldenleaf, Coast Goldleaf, Wild Coffee, Mitzeeri.  (isiXhosa) Umhlahlahlungulu, Umhlahlamakhwaba, Umhlahla-makhwaba, Umhlahlangu.  (isiZulu) Isihlalamangcwibi, Isihlalamagwababa, Umhlahlamakhwaba, Umhlahle, Umhlalamagwababa, Umhlalamgwababa, Umhlalamkhwaba, Umshonge.  (Northern Sotho) Motsêrê.  (siSwati) Motsere, Umhala-magcwababa, Umhlala- mahub.  (Tshivenda) Munzere.  (Xitsonga) Ndzerhe.

Family Phyllanthaceae. In this diverse family, Latex and Spines are usually absent.  This is diagnostic and excludes them from Euphorbiaceae.  There are about 50+ genera and 2 000 species in this family.  They are most numerous in the tropics and most members are trees.  Leaves are usually simple, alternate and petiolate.  Leaf margins are usually entire, and leaves are present in most species.  The actinomorphic Flowers are usually unisexual and may be monoecious or dioecious.  The superior Ovary has 2 ovules in each locule.  The Fruit is a berry, drupe or schizocarp.  Local genera containing trees on this website include Antidesma, Bridelia, Cleistanthus and Heywoodia.

Name derivation: Bridelia – named after Samuel Elisee de Bridel (1761-1828) – a Swiss-German moss specialist.  micrantha: Greek – small flowered.  There are 4 species of this genus in southern Africa.

Conservation: National Status: L C. (Least Concern).  Assessed: 2005 (R.H. Archer and J.E. Victor).

Tree

This fast growing, frost resistant Tree (photo 619), may reach 21m high with a wide fairly open Crown.  It is common in high rainfall areas.  In the open, away from tall competition, the rounded crown is spreading.  Bark is brown/grey and rather flaky in younger specimens.  It becomes rough and cracking almost into rectangles in older specimens (photo 762).  Young branches are initially hairy, green to brown (photo 187) and have many, raised red to dark Lenticels (a usually raised corky oval or elongated area on the plant that allows the uncontrolled interchange of gases with the environment (photos 338 & 187).  Branches may also have white patches.  Short, not very sharp, fat Spines occur on younger branches and may remain on the main trunk (photo 617).

Leaves

This deciduous or semi deciduous tree has slightly undulating Leaves that are simple (have a single blade, which may have incisions that are not deep enough to divide the leaf into leaflets).  Each leaf is oval, elliptic to obovate (egg-shaped – with the narrower end at the base) and large (photo 612) – up to 28 x 12cm.  They are dark shiny green above but lighter below, smooth and usually hairless but some hairs may occur below.  The alternatively arranged leaves are almost in the same plane (photos 621 & 71).  Young leaves are often purplish to reddish (photo 626) and, prior to falling the mature leaves often develop a spectacular bright red or gold colour (photo 341).  The Blade has up to 15 pairs of often yellowish, slender lateral Veins (photo 612).  Most side veins curve and run up to the margin usually without branching – forming a distinctive herringbone pattern.  They spread towards the apex in the process.  The midrib and lateral veins protrude slightly below, and all veins are distinctive when viewed against a strong light (photo 622).  Between the lateral veins are many smaller, joining veins that are ladder-like in appearance (photo 622).  The Apex is tapering, bluntly or sharply pointed or acuminate (an acute apex whose sides are somewhat concave and taper to a protracted point – photo 612).  A drip-tip may be present.  The Base is broadly tapering to rounded (photo 71).  The Margin may be wavy (photo 612) and is entire (with a continuous margin, not in any way indented) or occasionally appearing to be shallowly scalloped (photo 621).  The up to 1,3cm long Petiole (leaf stalk) is thickset and hairy (photo 808 under Flowers).  Small green Stipules (basal appendages of the petiole) are visible (photo 71) but do fall.

 

Flowers

The very small (up to 1cm in diameter) and inconspicuous Flowers are located in clusters in leaf axils (photo 808).  They are in compact Cymes (broad, more or less flat-topped, determinate flower clusters, with central flowers opening first – photo 814).  Flowers are unisexual but monoecious (separate male and female flowers on the same plant).  The 5 triangular green Sepals are usually small (photo 814).  The Petals are even smaller than the sepals (photo 814 & 810) and obovate (the terminal half is broader than the basal).  The Male Flowers (photo 808 & 810) have a short Pedicel (stalk of a single flower in a cluster), which is absent in female flowers.  The 5 Stamens have basally joined filaments and a rudimentary ovary is present.  In the Female Flowers (photo 814), the disc (fleshy or elevated development of the receptacle) is double and surrounds the base of the superior Ovary usually has 2 locules with 2 ovules in each.  These small flowers are best viewed with a hand lens.  (Oct-Apr).

Fruit

The Fruit is a small ellipsoid and resinous Berry (pulpy, indehiscent fruit like a grape or tomato), which may reach 10 x 7mm.  The fruiting branch is distinctive and the fruit change from green to blackish when mature.  Each fleshy berry is sweet, edible and, by abortion, usually contains a single Seed.  The remnants of the Calyx are visible for some time (photo 38).  Seeds have copious albumen (starchy or other nutritive material surrounding the embryo).  (Nov-Apr).  In some years, no fruit are produced.

Distribution & Ecology

This tree is considered a Relict (a surviving species from an extinct group).  It is not drought resistant but is tolerant of light frost and is common in high rainfall areas, open savannah, fringes of forests, swampy ground, along rivers, streams, in riverine woodlands and granite outcrops.  They are common up to an altitude of 1 750m and may occur with termites.  Trees are found in Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal coast, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Zimbabwe e.g. at the temple in Zimbabwe Ruins, Zambia and northwards into Tropical Africa including Northern Botswana, Angola, Ethiopia, Senegal, Somalia and Uganda.  It is also located on Reunion.  Felled trees produce many shoots.  The Flowers attract bees and wasps and the Paradise Skipper butterfly (Abantis paradisea) that fly for most of the year but occur more frequently from Apr-June.  Their larvae feed on the Leaves as do the larvae of the Giant Emperor (Charaxes castor).  Here the adult males have a wingspan of 8,5cm.  Another example is (Parosmodes morantii) – found from KwaZulu-Natal northwards into tropical Africa and commonly seen during Dec-Apr).  The Silk moth: (Anaphe panda) are used in silk production and their larvae feed on the leaves.  Nyala, bushbuck and grey duiker also consume leaves.  Black rhino eat the Bark and leaves.  Fruit attracts many birds e.g., green pigeons, starlings, bulbuls, doves and turacos (louries).  Narina Trogon (Apaloderma narina), a bird with a green belly and red tail, visits this tree.  This bird is very difficult to approach.

Ethnobotany

The attractive, lustrous, dark brown Heartwood and the lighter Sapwood are durable, termite resistant and compete with stinkwood for quality furniture.  Wood has a medium density, saws easily, holds nails, screws, and is reasonably resistant to fungi and most insect attacks.  However, the Lyctus beetles can be a problem.  The wood is used for flooring, furniture making, panelling, fence poles and mine-props.  It also makes good firewood and charcoal.  The framework for fish traps is made from the wood.  This is a good decorative garden shade tree, which can withstand temperatures as low as minus 4°C.  It is a relatively fast-growing plant.  Propagation is by seeds and growth is up to 2m per year.  The Seeds have a short viability and do not store.  Fruit pulp has a growth inhibitor and must be removed before attempting to germinate the seeds.  The fruit is edible.  Resin from the tree is used for sealing cracks e.g., in doors.  Leaves are fed to cattle.  These trees have been planted to stabilize irrigational canals and to decrease waterlogging in soils.  Black dye is extractable from the leaves and red dye from the Bark.  Extracted bark has some anti-bacterial action.  Some anti-inflammatory effects have also been found.  Traditional medicine makes use of roots and leaves.

References

Archer, R.H. & Victor, J.E. 2005. Bridelia micrantha (Hochst.) Baill. National Assessment: Red List of South African Plants version 2020.1. Accessed on 2022/10/27.

Boon, R. 2010. Pooley’s Trees of eastern South Africa. Flora and Fauna Publications Trust, Durban.

Burrows, J.E., Burrows, S.M., Lotter, M.C. & Schmidt, E. 2018. Trees and Shrubs Mozambique.  Publishing Print Matters (Pty) Ltd.  Noordhoek, Cape Town. 2018.

Coates Palgrave, M. 2002. Keith Coates Palgrave Trees of Southern Africa, edn 3. Struik, Cape Town.

Ginn P.J. Mcilleron W.G. and Milstein P. le S, 1989. The Complete Book of Southern African Birds. Struik, Cape Town.

Palmer, E. & Pitman, N. 1972. Trees of southern Africa. Balkema, Amsterdam, Cape Town.

Schmidt, S. Lotter, M. & McCleland, W. 2002. Trees and Shrubs of Mpumalanga and the Kruger National Park. Jacana, Johannesburg.

van Wyk, B. & van Wyk, P. 1997 Field guide to Trees of Southern Africa. Struik, Cape Town.

 

http://worldagroforestry.org/treedb2/speciesprofile.php?Spid=374

http://www.plantzafrica.com/templates/voteplant.php

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridelia_micrantha

http://uses.plantnet-project.org/en/Bridelia_micrantha_(PROTA)

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242519528_Type_material_in_the_moss_herbarium_of_Samuel_Elisee_von_Bridel_1

http://posa.sanbi.org/flora/browse.php?src=SP

https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijfr/2012/186549/